Daína Chaviano

Daína Chaviano, (born 1957, Havana, Cuba), expatriate Cuban author of novels, novellas, short stories, and scripts for film and television.

Chaviano grew up in Havana. She published her first book, the short-story collection Los mundos que amo (1980; “The Worlds I Love”), after winning a literary contest while attending the University of Havana. The book became an instant classic, inspiring a best-selling illustrated version and radio and film adaptations. Chaviano later founded Cuba’s first science-fiction workshop, named for the father of Cuban science fiction, Oscar Hurtado. As a young public figure in Cuba, she acted in films, hosted radio programs, and wrote for television. Meanwhile her novels and novellas, which combine science fiction with mythology, fantasy, eroticism, and psychological realism, established her at the forefront of Cuban popular literature. Titles such as Amoroso planeta (1983; “Loving Planet”), Historias de hadas para adultos (1986; “Fairy Tales for Adults”), and Fábulas de una abuela extraterrestre (1988; “Fables from an Extraterrestrial Grandmother”) won her widespread attention.

In 1991 Chaviano defected to the United States, establishing herself in Miami. Cuban officials responded by halting the publication of several of her books scheduled for release that year. In the United States, she worked as a journalist and translator for the newspaper El Nuevo Herald and soon began writing a series of novels called “The Occult Side of Havana.” The four novels in the cycle include Gata encerrada (2001; “Cat in a Cage”), Casa de juegos (1999; “House of Games”), El hombre, la hembra y el hambre (1998; “Man, Woman, and Hunger”), and La isla de los amores infinitos (2006; The Island of Eternal Love). The first three are set in the late 20th century, while the last novel spans several generations. La isla de los amores was widely translated.